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Would love to see T20 World Cup go ahead, Ind-Aus series played: Australia Sports Minister Richard Colbeck

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 04, 2020, 06:52 PM IST
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T20 World Cup. (Source: @T20WorldCup). Photograph:(Twitter)

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Australian Sports Minister Richard Colbeck has said that the country can deal with the challenge of getting all the participating for the ICC T20 World Cup but the real issue for the authority is whether it is worth having the showpiece event behind closed doors. 

Australian Sports Minister Richard Colbeck has said that the country can deal with the challenge of getting all the participating for the ICC T20 World Cup but the real issue for the authority is whether it is worth having the showpiece event behind closed doors. 

Travel restrictions and lockdown measures have put question marks over the commencement of the ICC T20 World Cup and even India’s tour of Australia. Reportedly, Cricket Australia is looking at a massive loss of 300 million Australian dollars if the schedule is disrupted due to coronavirus. 
Colbeck has said he would love to see the Test series between India and Australia go ahead as per schedule. He further emphasized on the issue of World Cup being played in empty stadiums as he said world cricket will have to look into the matter closely as well.

"I'd love to see an Australia-India Test series this summer and I'd really like to be able to see the World Cup go-ahead.

"... the issue is not so much the teams as the crowds and that's probably one of the hurdles we really have to consider and probably one that world cricket will look at pretty closely as well," Colbeck told in a radio show on Monday.

Furthermore, Colbeck said bringing in teams, staff and broadcasters won’t be an issue for Australia and the authorities could work on protocols with appropriate quarantine and bio-security measures for the tournament. 

"We all know the difference in the atmosphere ... but in a team sense I'd like to think that we can build some protocols with the cooperation of the sport and the players, that's going to be extremely important, with appropriate quarantine and biosecurity protocols to see if we can make the competition go ahead."

While T20 World Cup is scheduled for an October 18 start, India's tour of Australia will begin with a T20 tri-series in October and end with a four-match Test series in December.